Too literal on everything?

James Jordan · 03 Jan 2002, 22:08 · from whorl-v0013.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at home.com>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Too literal on everything?
Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002 16:08:46 -0600
Message-ID: <whorl-v0013-whorl.v012.n180.1 at digest.urth.net>
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At 08:21 PM 1/2/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>Very interesting stuff about the Maternal paganism in Wolfe, Nutria.  Than=
ks
>for sharing your conversation with Wolfe.
>
>Hey Andy, when you say I'm being too literal, do you mean about all my word
>connections or just that Blue/Green time travel thing?  Severian doesn't s=
eem
>to have any problem traveling through time.

         Yes, but that's only after he's travelled to the sub-heaven of=20
Yesod, and died (again) and been brought back (again) on the Ship. Severian=20
has a fairly unique gift and calling, to be the Conciliator, to be a kind=20
of Christ-Apollo to Urth. (He's not Christ; that's the "theoanthropos" of=20
ancient time.) I don't think we can transfer Severian's unique gifts, and=20
especially those gifts as transformed through his deaths and resurrections,=20
to other people in the Urth universe.
         BTW, does anyone else see a hint of *Perelandra* in Green? A=20
"fallen Perelandra" perhaps? Lush and verdant and corrupt, and needing a=20
"Ransom" to at least begin to set things right -- to go underground and=20
fight "un-men" and remove the sewage? Of am I streaming my consciousness=20
too much? If this guess is anywhere near the mark, perhaps the Neighbor=20
really is a kind of "angel" to guide "Ransom/Horn" to do this initially=20
redemptive work. The Neighbors want to redeem Green.

>I've just found it interesting how Wolfe can infuse
>repetitive words with associations that they normally do not have (for
>example, read The Book of the New Sun and look at how many times water and
>healing are mixed, as well as flooding and salvation -> it happens over and
>over and over ad nauseum. Obviously, salvation requires a big flood -> and=20
>you
>didn't really have to read Urth of the New Sun to make that association)

         Well, as I'm sure you got, this is all reflections on the=20
sacrament of Holy Baptism, beginning with Severian's initial baptismal=20
drowning and resurrection. There are lots of reflections on the Holy=20
Eucharist throughout also. And these were quite deliberate, as Gene=20
affirmed to me.
         Severian's baptismal death and resurrection at the beginning=20
simply foreshadows (and in-personates, since he is the "messiah" who walks=20
the path before the rest of us) the baptism of Urth into Ushas at the end,=20
and tells us how we should consider that flood.

Just a coupla thoughts.

Nutria

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